2024 Election: Here’s How to Stop Those Endless Fundraising Messages

Anyone who’s ever donated to a campaign or political party probably knows the point: You give money to a candidate or get them to support you once, and then you’re inundated with messages asking for more. This experience has gained even greater prominence recently as political fundraising has increased dramatically over the past few months, attracting even more people to these requests for donations as we approach Election Day.

While these messages may seem endless, especially during the hot days of a presidential race, there’s always a way to make them stop — because these fundraisers are bound by law to seek your consent for automated messages. Read on to learn more about modern fundraising practices and what you can do to keep your fundraisers in the best possible shape.

And for more information to prepare you this election season, learn about finding early voting time in your county and how to determine your registration status.

Why do campaigns send so many automated messages?

Automated messages have emerged as a major part of political outreach efforts in the digital age. Text messaging, in particular, has become a powerful campaign fundraising tool. Speaking to Time magazine, Alex Quilici, CEO of call blocking company YouMail, explained that texts are more expensive than email or mobile phones, and that they tend to encourage more engagement. This is especially true for young people, he added, who are more likely to answer texts from numbers they don’t know, rather than make phone calls.

How can I make fundraising documents and emails stand up?

The Federal Communications Commission, also known as the FCC, requires these political fundraisers to get your consent for automated messages, which also means they need to let you opt out.

Most of the documents you receive for political fundraising purposes will include some sort of instructions on how to make the messages stop (usually by texting “STOP” on them). It’s also possible to try to avoid these messages in the first place, fundraising companies like ActBlue and WinRed note that it’s an option to add your phone number to their forms.

Adding your email, however, is usually not an option. To unsubscribe from other fundraising emails, you should be able to scroll to the bottom of any message you receive and find a link that allows you to unsubscribe from the current mailing list. You may need to do this several times for different fundraising messages, as your information may end up on multiple lists used by fundraising activities.

What can I do about phishing scams?

If you suspect that an email you received is not an annoying fundraising alert but rather a phishing scheme, you should do two things: First, never click on their links or give them any. information about you. Second, forward the message to Anti-Phishing Task Force at reportphishing@apwg.org.

To find out more, find out what each major president has to say about the child tax credit.